NC woman to help homeless with $250,000 lottery prize

GREENVILLE, NC (WNCT) – A Greenville woman who recently won a $250,000 lottery prize said she intends to use the money to help homeless people.

According to the North Carolina Education Lottery Commission, Jessie Ellzy bought a $250,0000 “WIN IT ALL” NC Lottery ticket at Nic’s Pic Kwik on U.S. 401 South in Laurinburg on Saturday.

Ellzy told lottery officials, when she scratched the ticket, “I stared at it and thought, ‘That’s a lot of zeros.’ I started jumping up and down and hugging my daughter.”

She also said that, while she will pay a few bills with some of her winnings, she wants to use most of her new fortune to help homeless people in the Greenville area.

“I told myself if I ever came into money, I’d pay it forward,” Ellzy said. “There are so many people who are worse off than I am. I’m going to make sure the homeless where I live have what they need for winter. It’s been a dream of mine to do this, and now I can.”

Ellzy claimed her prize Monday at NC Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh, and she took home $176,876 after state and federal tax withholdings.